Astronomy and Cosmology

Author(s): L C Jain
Publisher: Rajasthan Prakrit Bharti Sansthan Jaipur

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travelled to Babylon and other countries as far as India also. The astronomy in Egypt however could not develop in comparison with the Babylonian and Greek astronomy but it is now an admitted fact that the Hindus had developed their mathematics and astronomy many centuries before Christ and as mentioned above, the ancient Jaina School of Mahāvira flourished very much in India round about the same period in which the Pythagorian School flourished in Greece.
According to vander Waerden in his book, "Science Awakening', “Herodotus has reported that Thales had predicted the event of solar eclipse of 585 B. C. It is believed that Thales was the first Greek astronomer to predict a solar eclipse. Such a feat required the experience of more than forty years, no matter how one proceeds. It is not possible for one man alone to gather this experience. But Thales had no Greek predecessors. The conclusion is inescapable that he must have drawn upon the experience of Oriental astronomers." These Oriental astronomers might be Babylonians and Hindus only. It is possible that Pythagoras might have been influenced by thc Jaina thinking of his time which is evident from the fact that he took the number 59 as the basis of his lunar calculations. In Prakrit Jaina texts, the number 59 has been taken as the basis of all lunar calculations since the days and nights in every one of the moon's months total to 59; it is because of the fact that in relation to the sun, the moon lags behind 62 celestial parts in one muhurta and therefore takes 591 days to cover 109800 celestial parts. It is important to note here that the ayan system of the Hindus is different from that of the Jainas and does not consider 59 days as above.
Taking into account the various factors, we can say that one of the important links, in the sequential history of the Science Awakening in the field of mathematics-philosophic pursuits that occurred in the world during the Pythogorean period, is the ancient Jaina School of Vardhamana Mahavira,
In Chapter I of this book, the author quotes Lincoln as saying, "The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present" and states that the science awakening round about the period of Vardhamāna Mahāvira and Gautam Buddha, was a simple rise above the inadequacy of the scientific knowledge which became indispensable according to the needs of the times throughout the world.” This science awakening covered many fields including Astronomy and Cosmology by framing the concepts of the universe to which the Jaina School contributed a lot after the era of the Vedānga Jyotişa and prior to